On Thursday 27 December 2007 10:46:26 Henning Brauer wrote: > * STeve Andre' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2007-12-27 16:42]: > > On Thursday 27 December 2007 10:07:00 Henning Brauer wrote: > > > * STeve Andre' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2007-12-27 15:43]: > > > > On Thursday 27 December 2007 09:17:37 new_guy wrote: > > > > > I would like to install OpenBSD *once* and keep it patched and > > > > > secured for many years there after (5 - 7 years) in a production > > > > > environment. Would it be feasible to get a snapshot today and > > > > > follow -current for many years w/o having to reinstall? Basically, > > > > > this approach would skip -stable and -release and always be > > > > > -current. I understand the implications of being current and that > > > > > things might change and break and may need re-configuring on > > > > > occasion. I'm OK with that... I just don't want to reinstall a > > > > > -release every year... although I'll still buy CDs as they are > > > > > released to support the project. > > > > > > that will work fine as long as you keep an eye on current.html and > > > maybe source-changes, it is what many of us do. > > > > > > > There are two problems with what you are talking about. The first is > > > > that by its vary nature -current is a moving target, and there could > > > > be a time when upgrading to the latest -current for a security fix > > > > might introduce some new feature which you don't want. > > > > > > why wouldn't you want a new feature? > > > we're being extremely careful to not break existing behaviour wherever > > > possible. of course, that is not always possible, but exceptions are > > > rare and well documented. > > > > I didn't express that well enough, I guess. How about a change, such as > > disks formerly showing up as wd but now sd? By problem, I mean > > something that has to be dealt with, not just insurmountable ones. > > that is one of those rare changes, and it is well documented. > > > > > The second problem are flag days, when something has changed such > > > > that you almost certainly want to reinstall the OS. The move from > > > > a.out to ELF binary format is a good example of that. > > > > > > ah yeah, and that happens every second week. > > > reality check: how often does that happen really? > > > the last "real" flag day on i386 was the a.out -> ELF move. > > > When was that? 3.3 I think. almost 5 years ago. > > > > Perhaps I'm wrong here, but I thought about every other release > > there was a change that was a flag day. > > nope. > > we sometimes have mini-flagdays. they usually only affect people > building from source.
Thats my point: running -current means building from source and thus being affected.
